William Shatner would 'absolutely' return as Captain Kirk in a new Trek film

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Ever since J.J. Abrams brought back Leonard Nimoy (R.I.P.) for the rebooted Star Trek film series, fans have been wondering whether William Shatner might also get one more shot in the spotlight. Well, the studio would have to figure out the kinks, but Shatner is definitely game to make it happen.

Shatner was thisclose to coming back in 2009’s Star Trek, as the writers had planned to have Nimoy’s Spock be in possession of a hologram featuring Shatner’s old-man Kirk. But the scene was ultimately axed, because the creative team felt it was just too pandering. Despite the decision to knock Kirk out of the new films, Shatner told The Hollywood Reporter he would still “absolutely” love to return to the iconic role.

Here’s an excerpt from his comments:

“How would they handle it, in science-fiction terms? I'm older, I'm heavier, I'm — all the problems of age. So what did Captain Kirk do? Die and age? Doesn't sound science-fictiony enough. Or maybe you make him really old. I don't know. It seems to have beggared Abrams' imagination…

I would play an old Captain Kirk, absolutely. You would have [to have] an interesting character, not a cameo, like 'Here I am, aren't I interesting?' It's the ongoing world, it's the world within science-fiction. Yes, you age within the universe. Time goes on, but time bends, as well. There's so many things you could do.”

So it sounds like Shatner isn’t interested in just popping up and winking at fans. Much as they gave Nimoy a critical role in 2009’s Trek, it seems Shatner would like something similar. Will it happen? Probably not, sadly. The studio has shown little interest in bringing Shatner back, and though the new films have no qualms about borrowing plots from the original series (we’re looking at you, Khan), building a story around Old Man Kirk seems a bridge too far.

What do you think? Would you like to see Shatner suit up one more time?